RAPP Leaders Go On To Be... Social Workers!

A couple of years back, we made a couple videos called "RAPPers Go On To Be..." to highlight how involvement in RAPP makes sense for all Bearcats regardless what career you might be headed toward.

In reflecting on encouraging people to apply for formal leadership positions in RAPP, we thought it could be similarly useful to highlight how people have contributed to RAPP and gone on to apply the knowledge they learned in a variety of impactful professions.

Kurt speaks at the RAPP XXVI Wednesday Banquet.

Kurt Southard (RAPP XXIII) was a Peer Leader with RAPP XXV and Facilitator with RAPP XXVI. After graduating top of their class in 2011, they served with AmeriCorps in the National AIDS Fund Team Chicago and The Night Ministry. Kurt currently applies their social work expertise at the Chicago Women's AIDS Project.

Laura (left) and her high-five buddy Naila at ARJ 2012.

Laura Perez (RAPP XXVII) was a Peer Leader with Accelerating Racial Justice 2012, after also helping create the program as a member of the RAPP Working Group. Laura just graduated with a Masters of Social Work from the UC School of Social Work and passed the Ohio State Board licensing exam. She is applying her social work expertise at the Talbert House in Brown County.

RAPP Leaders Go On To Be... Public Allies!

A couple of years back, we made a couple videos called "RAPPers Go On To Be..." to highlight how involvement in RAPP makes sense for all Bearcats regardless what career you might be headed toward.

In reflecting on encouraging people to apply for formal leadership positions in RAPP, we thought it could be similarly useful to highlight how people have contributed to RAPP and gone on to apply the knowledge they learned in a variety of impactful professions.

RAPP & Public Allies have long had a strong overlap in people given our shared work toward a just society and honoring that everyone leads!

Ashley shows off her artwork at the RAPPORT 2009 Retreat.

Ashley Bennet Gray (RAPP XXII) was a graduate assistant and student worker with RAPP XXIII and RAPPORT.  Ashley served in Public Allies in 2009-2010.

Kinsey (2nd from right) leads a group of volunteers in a joint role for Public Allies & RAPP.

Kinsey Brown (RAPP XXIII) was a Peer Leader with RAPP XXIV Sunday.  Kinsey served in Public Allies in 2010-2011 with RAPP.

Marjorie (far left) reps RAPP with several other RAPP alumni who served in Public Allies.

Marjorie Bledsoe (RAPP XXV) was a Peer Leader with RAPP XXVI Wednesday.  Marjorie served in Public Allies in 2011-2012 with RAPP.

Jojo smiles for the camera at Accelerating Racial Justice 2013.

Jojo Azevedo (RAPP XXIV) was a Peer Leader with RAPP XXVI Wednesday, facilitator for RAPP XXVII and Accelerating Racial Justice (ARJ) 2012, and process observer for ARJ 2013.  He is currently serving in Public Allies 2013-2014 with the Academy of World Languages.

All Over Spotlight!

At Student Spotlight during Bearcats Bound Orientation, a photo hunt found RAPPers displayed all around the atrium.  It's unlikely we found every RAPPer who was in the pictures, but check out who was found among all these tables:

Student Wellness Center

RAPP XXVII alumna Tiffany Stainfield

African American Cultural & Resource Center and Ethnic Programs & Services

RAPP VI alumna Dr. Bleuzette Marshall and RAPP I alum William Harris

RAPP XXVII alumna Kayla Ihuekwu

The Wesley House - Methodist Campus Ministries

RAPP XXVII alumna Keshar Smith

 Serve Beyond Cincinnati

RAPP XXIII alumna Mei Hseih

 Programs & Activities Council

RAPP XXIV alumna Latoya Watson

GenderBloc

RAPP XXV alumni Rachel Berman & Tyler Thompson, RAPP XXVII alum Adrian Vance, and RAPP XXVIII alumna Emma Smith 

 The Women's Center

RAPP XXIV alumna Katie Meyer

ARJ 2012 alumna Kara Mate

RAPP XXVII alumni Jalisa Holidfield & Ana Montalvan

ARJ 2013 Peer Leader Corinne Patterson

Orientation Staff

RAPP XXVII alum Gregor McCord and RAPP XXV alumna Kristin Myers-Young

 Student Activities Board

RAPP XXVII alumna Samar Sheriff

ARJ 2012 alumna Jazmyn Battie

UC International

RAPP XXVI alum Dan Pham

RAPP XXIV alum Blake Jelley

RAPP XXV alum Anthony de la Rosa

 

Announcing the Leadership Team for RAPP 2013-14!

The selection process for the limited leadership roles available in RAPP is a challenging one - each year, we have more more-than-qualified applicants than spots available.

Many thanks to the great campus leaders who helped make this imperfect process a manageable and even enjoyable one:  AJ E (RAPP XXVI), Ana M (RAPP XXVI), Becca H (RED), Farooq A (RAPP XXVII), Maggy F (RED), Shyamal R (XXVI), & Susie M (SALD)!

Many thanks also to the all of the great Bearcats who applied for the positions.  It was truly a talented group, making the selection process a difficult one.  All of the applicants are leaders in RAPP and around campus who work to make our campus a more just and caring community.

Please join me in welcoming those who were placed into formal positions:

Accelerating Racial Justice 2013
Peer Leaders:
Corinne Pattersion - Activists Coming Together (ACT), Women in Leadership & Learning (WILL)
Gregory Gamble - ARJ 2012, Social Justice League 2012-13
Jazmyn Battie - ARJ 2012
Maya Whyte - RAPP XXVIII

Process Observers:
Jojo Azevedo - RAPP XXIV, RAPP XXVI Peer Leader, ARJ 2013 & RAPP XXVII Student Facilitator, Social Justice League 2010-2013
Kevin Weber - RAPP XXVI, Social Justice League 2011-13

Student Facilitators:
Jamieson Williams - RAPP XXVII, ARJ 2013 Student Worker
Megan Kreaps - RAPP XXVII, Social Justice League 2012-13

RAPP XXIX
Peer Leaders:
Jalisa Holifield - RAPP XXVII, ARJ 2012 Peer Leader, Social Justice League 2012-13, ACT, WILL
Nathaniel Bell - RAPP XXVIII
Siva Nagi Reddy Inturi - RAPP XXVI

Student Facilitator/Worker:
Brice Mickey

RAPPORT
Student Workers:
Jamieson Williams - RAPP XXVII, ARJ 2013 Student Worker/Facilitator
Matthew Woodruff - RAPP XXVI, RAPP XXVII Peer Leader, Social Justice League 2011-13

ARJ 2014
Student Worker:
Meg Groat - RAPP XXVIII

Why Did You Join RAPP Ep. 5

Why Did You Join RAPP?

We asked a few RAPPORT members why did they initially join RAPP.
Now, we have RAPP XXIV alum and RAPP superstar Jojo Azevedo.

Why Did You Join RAPP Ep. 4

In an extra special Why Did You Join RAPP, we have The Rebecca Lehman!

We asked a few RAPPORT members why did they initially join RAPP.
Now we learn why Rebecca Lehman, RAPP XXII member and the current RAPP Program Coordinator initially got involved in the program!

Why Did You Join RAPP Ep. 2

Why Did You Join RAPP?

We asked a few RAPPORT members why did they initially join RAPP.
First, we have RAPP XXVI member, RAPP XXVII Peer Leader and ARJ 2012 Process Observer Matthew Woodruff.

Why Did You Join RAPP Ep. 1

Why Did You Join RAPP?

We asked a few RAPPORT members why did they initially join RAPP.
First, we have RAPP XXVII member and ARJ 2012 Peer Leader Jalisa Holifield.

Talk about the "Unmentionables" - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

Along with our nine-month intensive and our alumni program RAPPORT with its Social Justice League, RAPP staff and volunteers lead an average of 50 workshops and trainings each year in the campus and community.

Through all of this, we hear a very common refrain:  I've never gotten to talk about this before - and I want to talk about it!

Even those who talk about race, gender, sexuality, religious/spiritual identity, and other social identities share the tune with a slight variation:  I've never gotten to talk about this with people who are different from me before!

Many of us experience a lifetime of lessons that these topics are not a part of polite conversation.  Many of us experience a lifetime of lessons that we're not supposed to even notice these identities.  Unsurprisingly, this leaves us with a great set of skills in NOT talking about them and very little experience or practice actually talking about them.

When we do try, some common experiences that remind us yet again we shouldn't be having these conversations come up.  We fumble our words and fail to express what we mean because we're focusing so hard on not being offensive.  We're shut down by others who want to keep these topics off the table.  We ignite anger and conflict ensues.  We're not able to ask foundational questions because we're too afraid of being exposed as ignorant.

A key to success in these conversations is getting support in them from folks who have some practice and can help shift the space from fear of the complexity that these topics entail to appreciation of that messiness.

Accelerating Racial Justice will give you that support!  For five days, you get to learn and teach others about racial justice and inclusive leadership as well as your life experiences.  You get to ask questions.  You get to be celebrated for sharing when you don't know.  You get to build a community that will keep these conversations going.

Apply now for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd!

A small group conversation at a RAPP meeting.  RAPP integrates solo-reflection, pairs, trios, small group, and large group time into our learning process.

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

What Better Way to Kick Off 2013-14?! - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

August is the start of a new school year!  From childhood to now, to me that has meant a new class schedule, new instructors, new classmates (with some familiar thrown in).  More important for me, it has also meant a new start - a chance to try new things.

If a new school year has meant any of these things to you, hopefully you also share that it's a chance to try new things.  Why not try a new thing with RAPP:  Accelerating Racial Justice!

Accelerating Racial Justice is RAPP's newest intensive.  Through it, you spend five days and four nights building community while enhancing your knowledge and skills in racial justice and inclusive leadership.

If becoming a better leader is any part of your new school year, join us for Accelerating Racial Justice!

If knowing more about yourself is any part of your new school year, join us for Accelerating Racial Justice!

If knowing more about your community - both on campus and writ large -is any part of your new school year, join us for Accelerating Racial Justice!

If having a week to recharge sounds like a good way to start a new school year, join us forAccelerating Racial Justice!

If making new friends is any part of your new school year, join us for Accelerating Racial Justice!

Apply today for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd.

Start your year before Welcome Weekend (full of fun events like this one, the Asian Student Welcome) - join us for Accelerating Racial Justice!

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Because You Can't Do RAPP's the Nine-Month... - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

Throughout our twenty-seven years at UC, RAPP's main program has been our academic year-long program.  In budgetary lean times, it's the core we keep alive.  It's arguably the origin of intergroup dialogue.  It's dynamic and ever evolving, ever improving.
It's also inaccessible to lots of students.

Under semesters, this is even more so an issue.  Previously, we were relatively easily able to accommodate folks who co-oped or interned out-of-town for a quarter.  Now that they're out for half the year instead of a third, we're much less able to do this.

This year, we moved back to having one group of 35 that meets throughout the year instead of two groups (which RAPP had for the previous four years and a total of six of our twenty-six years).  This means there's only one night for meetings:  Wednesday.

So, if you co-op/intern out of the city and/or are busy on Wednesdays, the nine-month program is not an option for you.

Don't worry - because Accelerating Racial Justice hopefully IS an option for you!

Accelerating Racial Justice is RAPP's newer five-day, four-night intensive.  For a week, you'll build community while enhancing your knowledge and skills around racial justice and inclusive leadership.

The intensive runs Monday, August 12th to Friday, August 16th.  Transportation to and from the retreat as well as meals, lodging, and supplies are provided at no charge to participants.  The only cost to you is your time!

Apply now for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd!

Not available for a year-long program? No problem!  Spend a free week with us at Grailville Retreat Center through Accelerating Racial Justice!

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Focus Your Leadership Trajectory - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

As described before, RAPP's intensives help students expand their leadership skills and knowledge as well as provide time for reflection.  Combine that with a growing community, and you've got a great mix that often leads to a profound result:  A newly (or more clearly) defined path of where you want to go.

In RAPP we emphasize a multiplicity of meanings to everything.  While that can be frustrating at times to deal with, it also means that you'll be supported in whichever path you want to take your leadership.  You'll make connections to make your journey more successful (in whichever way you define success - which we'll encourage you to explore!).

So, participating in RAPP's 5-day summer intensive Accelerating Racial Justice will help you with your leadership journey in this way.  It also opens doors to leadership opportunities within RAPP.

By completing the 5-day you are considered a part of the RAPPORT community, just like students who complete RAPP's 9-month intensive.  You can then join the Social Justice League and earn a certificate as a RAPP Social Justice Peer Educator.  You can be a Peer Leader, a Facilitator, an Intern.  You can be on the committees that make major changes to RAPP, like the working group that created the 5-day itself.

So, apply now for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications are due Friday, May 3rd!

Rachel Berman (RAPP XXV, XXVI Peer Leader, WGSS Intern, working group) being recognized with the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences Spirit of Community award - just one of a dozen or so awards she's received recognizing her leadership and activism at UC!

Lane Hart (XXV) is the outgoing undergraduate student body president - he often cites RAPP as a pivotal part of his leadership development at UC!

Jamieson Williams (XXVII) & Laura Perez (XXVII) being recognized with the Terence L Jones Diversity Award for their leadership within their respective RAPP groups.  Jamieson was selected to represent campus leaders in the 2012-13 Activus and Laura was recently accepted into a competitive MSW program!

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Make Friends! - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

RAPP leaders work not only with our own programs (the 9-month intensive, RAPPORT, and the 5-day Accelerating Racial Justice), but work with the larger campus community through workshops.  Through this, we interact with over 1,500 people a year.

A common refrain we hear when working with groups is that we deepen their relationships through talking about "unmentionables."  Critical concepts like race and justice are oft on people's minds, but many of us find ourselves in spaces where we can't talk about them or feel safe talking about them.

By participating in Accelerating Racial Justice, you'll build friendships through meaningful connections in several ways:

• You'll meet 38 other Bearcats who are also interested in building their skills & knowledge around racial justice and inclusive leadership - a great commonality for first connections!
• You'll be supported by an experienced team through the usually challenging process of having meaningful conversations about personal experiences around race & exclusion with people of different races - a meaningful experience building a lasting connection!   The Accelerating Racial Justice process includes components on maintaining your connections after the five days are over.
• You'll build your own practice at having these conversations as well as leave with a group of new friends who have shared the experience - key skills and connections you'll take home with you!

Folks who participate in Accelerating Racial Justice are welcomed into the RAPP community, which I like to describe as hundreds strong and decades long (around 800 people have completed a RAPP intensive and we've been around for 27 years).  

Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice today!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd!

Building friends through RAPP is both challenging and FUN!

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Take a Free "Learning Vacation" - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted and updated from June 2012:

Students' lives are busy ones!  You work tirelessly to build harmony between a lot of competing priorities, such as classes & classwork, work-work, families, friends, hobbies, and more.  Taking a moment to stop in the go!-go!-go! life and reflect on that life is a rare luxury.

Accelerating Racial Justice invites you to take time this August 12-16 to stop, breathe, and reflect on yourself as a student leader and person.

We take participants to the beautiful Grailville Retreat Center in Loveland, OH, and house & feed you while there.

The RAPP mission is fighting oppression through individual awareness and collective action.  We lead you through activities that enhance your knowledge and skills around racial justice and inclusive leadership.  You learn and teach with a group of 38 other UC students, building a supportive and meaningful community.  You are given the time to focus on yourself - your whole self as a person, community member, leader, and learner.

This program is FREE for all UC students - graduate and undergraduate, all majors, all colleges, all campuses.  The only cost to you is your time.

Apply today for this free learning vacation!  Applications are due by 5PM on Friday, May 3rd!

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Enhance your Leadership through Inclusive Leadership - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice

Reposted from June 2012:

RAPP is a programming area within the UC Office of Student Activities & Leadership Development.  The name describes exactly what we do:  Facilitate student activities and support students in developing as a leader.  Knowing our home, it's hopefully no surprise to you that leadership development is part of our student activity.  Being an SALD program is only one of many reasons why we emphasize leadership development.

There are as many philosophies to leadership as there are leaders.  The approach we emphasize in RAPP falls under the philosophy of inclusive leadership.  There are several definitions to this, but for today we'll summarize it as a practice that involves intentional focus on creating inclusion in all work for enhanced outcomes.

The new Accelerating Racial Justice 5-day summer intensive has two key foci:  Racial justice and inclusive leadership.  By participating in this program, you'll get to work intently on your knowledge and skills around these two and enhance your own leadership by learning how to integrate inclusive leadership skills and practices into your work.

As SALD says, leaders are made, not born.  Apply to Accelerating Racial Justice today to help make yourself as an inclusive leader!

The RAPP 2011-12 leadership team focused on continually developing our inclusive leadership skills.
Left to Right: Marjorie, Tyler, DeVorah, Rachel, Matthew, Wil, Mieshia, and Jojo.

How to ApplyThere are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Learn About Yourself by Learning About Others - Apply for Accelerating Racial Justice - Learn About Yourself by Learning About Others

Reposted from June 2012:

I took English class all through school.  We learned to diagram sentences.  We learned contractions and spelling.  We learned homonyms (including the famous your-you're and there-their-they're that befuddle many).  Given that I spoke, wrote, heard, read, and dreamt in English, I thought I understood it as best as anyone could.

Then I started learning another language.

An experience I had that I've heard many other later-in-life-second-language-learners also share is that my understanding of my own language was exponentially expanded as I learned other languages.  The differences between the two brought out deep nuances in meaning, exposed cultural assumptions, revealed understanding of time, and so many other aspects of understanding the world that my appreciation of my first language was deeply enriched.

Working in multicultural and social justice education, I find people often experience a similar process when learning about social identity.

White folks lamenting not having a culture often experience a profound shift in understanding when they spend time working on race.  Straight folks wondering "where'sour pride month?" often have a transformed understanding after spending time working on sexuality and sexual orientation.  And it goes on and on.

Whatever your identities are, spending a week immersed in Accelerating Racial Justice will help you learn about yourself.  

Sure, you'll learn about others and you'll build knowledge and skills.  But, don't be afraid to sign up just for the "selfish" reason of simply getting to know yourself and what you hope to do better.

Apply now for Accelerating Racial Justice!  Applications due by 5PM on Friday, June 15th.

RAPP XXVII Peer Leader and XXIV alumna Mieshia Barnes thinking things through at at RAPP retreat at Grailville (where Accelerating Racial Justice will be held).

How to Apply There are two steps to apply for this life-changing program:

1. Read the Information for Potential Applicants.  This piece is designed to cover the common questions people may have about Accelerating Racial Justice to help you decide if it's what you're looking for.
2. Complete a written application.  This application gathers basic information from candidates.  Information on how to access the application is available in the Information for Potential Applicants, which you are expected to read before completing a written application.

Please contact Rebecca Lehman at lehmanrl@uc.edu or 513.556.6119 with any questions you may have.

Save the Date: RAPP Shirt Day! March 14th!

Mark the day down now:  Thursday, March 14th is RAPP Shirt Day!

Whether it's your official RAPP t-shirt, an ARJ baseball shirt, a Social Justice League polo, a 25th Reunion t-shirt, or a homemade piece of RAPP schwag, wear it with pride on Thursday, March 14th!

On RAPP Shirt Day, stop by the RAPP Office (669 Steger) sporting your RAPP shirt for some extra office fun and a small prize!

What's that?  A swarm of RAPP shirts overhead!

Welcome Our "New" RAPPORT Facilitator - Jojo Azevedo!

Over the last several years, we tried many staff structures to support and sustain the growth of RAPP's programming through its work in intensives, RAPPORT, and outreach.  For 2012-13, we're harnessing the talent of outstanding student leaders by having three student workers - Brice Mickey and Jamieson Williams have been introduced as the first two-thirds of these.

Beginning this January, Jamieson will be transitioning to the Accelerating Racial Justice (ARJ) student worker and Jojo Azevedo will be coming on board to work with reshaping RAPPORT.

Jojo is a familiar face in RAPP!  He is a senior in Communication and just returned from a semester-long study abroad in Japan.  He is an alum of RAPP XXIV, Peer Leader with RAPP XXVI, student Facilitator with RAPP XXVII, worked on the committee that created ARJ and its curricula, served as student Facilitator for the pilot run of ARJ 2012, and has been in the Social Justice League since it began in 2010.  Not to mention his work as a recruitment leader, his commercial  and other creative videos for RAPP, his volunteering at the 25 Year Reunion, his emphasis on community building, and general work to keep the RAPP Office open and accessible have greatly benefited RAPP.

In other words, his contributions to RAPP are great and he is an ideal person to help reshape our impact through RAPPORT!  Welcome back, Jojo!

Jojo smiling in the RAPP Office!

Transfer Student & Graduate Says There's a Place for Everyone at UC

From UC News:

Transfer Student/Graduate Says There’s A Place For Everyone At UC

An injury first led to Kara Mate’s transfer to UC, but she says her discoveries in and out of the classroom are what kept her on her pathway to graduation.

Date: 11/29/2012
By: Dawn Fuller
Phone: (513) 556-1823
Photos By: Dottie Stover

Kara Mate is launching a career in service after the University of Cincinnati Commencement Ceremony on Dec. 15. Mate, a 22-year-old resident of Hamilton, is graduating from the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) with a bachelor’s degree (BS) in psychology. After Commencement, she plans to join the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) in Perry Point, Md., to provide service to communities throughout that region.

Kara Mate

A graduate of Madeira High School, Mate says she transferred to UC after an ACL injury caused her to give up a ROTC scholarship to another university, but she adds that her exploration of UC’s student organizations built her campus connections that kept her here. She joins the increasing number of students who are transferring to the “Hottest College in America.”

Last fall, UC reported 1,970 new, undergraduate transfer students, which was up 16.8 percent from autumn 2011. Lisa Holstrom, director of the UC Transfer and Lifelong Learning Center, attributes the growing numbers of transfer students to a reenergized campus.  “Students are more aware that something exciting is happening at UC, whether it’s our quality academics, exciting athletics events or services to students, including our new veterans center and military-friendly rating,”says Holstrom.

(From left) Kim Fulbright (Women's Ctr.), Kara Mate, Rebecca Lehman (Women's Ctr.)

Mate says outside the classroom, she found a home at UC through her involvement with the university’s student organizations, which number more than 300. During her junior year at UC, she was a participant in the UC Women’s Center program, Activists Coming Together (ACT), a year-long program to build feminist activists and leaders. Students must apply for acceptance into the program.

Last year, she participated in the V-Day University of Cincinnati presentation of the award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues,” as part of a UC Women’s Center sponsored  fundraiser to end violence against women and girls. The play is presented around Valentine’s Day as part of the global anti-violencre movement called V-Day. “It’s an empowering cause for women around the world, and I truly believe in the message,” says Mate. “This year, the UC Women’s Center will be participating in the One Billion Rising campaign, marking the 15th anniversary worldwide of V-Day activities. It’s an amazing opportunity for women and men to get involved.”

Last summer, she was among the inaugural students who participated in an intensive, week-long retreat under the Racial Awareness Program (RAPP), called Accelerating Racial Justice. The program strives to build students’ understanding of racial justice and inclusive leadership.

“Kara is a great model for transfer students as well as students who began at UC,” says Rebecca Lehman, program coordinator for RAPP. “Transfer students have a different orientation experience, they aren’t as likely to have a learning community experience, and they can often feel disconnected from the wealth of co-curricular experiences that UC offers. By getting involved, Kara exemplified the spirit and power of integrated learning.”



Mate is also among UC’s first students in five decades to graduate under a semester calendaring system, which took effect in the fall, as UC joined other Ohio public universities in converting to semesters in accordance with the University System of Ohio’s strategic plan for higher education. “I think semesters establish a stronger connection with our classes and professors than academic quarters, simply because we have more time together. I enjoyed it,” she says.

She says that moving to Maryland will be a big step. The longest that she has been away from home was after she worked for a couple of months for a non-profit organization in San Diego. However, she says she’s looking forward to the challenge.

“The people I’ve met through the UC Women’s Center and RAPP really opened up my eyes to the UC community and showed me that there is a place here for everyone. I think that’s the big discovery that I’ll be taking with me,” says Mate.

“Everyone is scared when they first come to college, but they’re not alone. Everyone here is searching for who they are and what they want to do. I’m not sure what I’m going to be yet, but that’s not such a bad thing,” she says.

UC Women’s Center

Racial Awareness Program (RAPP)
Student Organizations and Leadership Development

Proudly Cincinnati – Transforming Student Lives

Welcome Back from our Student Government Pres & VP!

Never too late for a welcome, right?

A message from Lane Hart (XXV) and Maesa Idries (ARJ 2012):